Black Love
by basedinlondon
Summary: The story of Aquarius Black, twin sister of Sirius Black. If Lily was the sun in his life, shining so bright she burnt a hole in your retina, Aquarius was the night sky suffocating you in darkness.
1. Spinner's End

**BLACK LOVE**

Chapter One: **Spinner's End**

The television was blaring on the hot summers day. A man wearing a wife beater and boxers was passed out by the open window in a tired armchair. His beer gut rose and fell with his breathing. His arm was limp beside the chair. On the floor were several empty beer bottles. The man was balding and getting along in age. A small black haired boy was seated on a chair on the dining table in the corner, his head pouring over a thick dusty paperback. His onyx black eyes narrowed as he stumbled on one paragraph. Despite the weather he was wearing a long sleeved tunic. From the kitchen he could hear his mother singing as she baked her son's favourite, pumpkin pie.

Severus Snape jumped when he heard the shatter of glass and his mother shrieking. "Freak!" He heard a child's voice scream from outside. His father grunted, still heavily asleep. Severus ran to his mother who was shaking, glass on the front of her hands as she shielded herself from the impact. Severus got her wand from the counter and started healing the cuts as his mother weeped softly.

"I wish you'd tell them off." Severus muttered as he bandaged her hands.

"They're only children." Sniffed his mother. "Such a good boy."

Severus gave her a small smile.

"It's a beautiful day." Eileen Snape said, dusting her apron and continuing to stir the mixture. "Why don't you go and play with Lily? Come over later for tea and we can have pumpkin pie and iced tea in the garden."

Snape nodded and ran outside. It took him ten minutes to walk over to the Evans house. Her house was much nicer than his. Large and light, with a front lawn bigger than his garden. It was a Georgian house with a large white door at the centre of the house. He knocked on the door and fidgeted as he waited. Tucking his hair behind his ear he thought he probably should have had a shower before but it was too late, someone was opening the door.

"Sev!" The red haired girl ran back inside, slamming the door in his face. Snape barely managed to formulate a response when she returned with a purse slung across her shoulder. They both headed the same direction without conferring with each other. Over the last year they spent most of their time in the park round Lily's house. Whether it rained or shined. Lily Evans was his first ever friend. His best friend. She was radiant. Everything he wasn't. She managed to balance him. He felt complete in her presence.

"No Petunia?" Severus asked as he sat on their regular spot. An old swing in their favourite derelict park. A new park had been refurbished by the council ten minutes away from Snape's house but they prefer their privacy. Rather, Severus did. He turned to see her frown as she kicked the ground and lifted her legs to let gravity sway her in the still and humid air.

"She hasn't talked to me since I got my Hogwarts letter." Lily said sadly. "I think she hoped that you were making it up."

Severus didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything at all. He told her about the book he was reading. Past case studies of the dangerous things people have done off strong love potions. Lily laughed, finding it hard to believe that love could be destructive.

"You'd be surprised" Snape said softly looking at her as she looked straight ahead at the burning sun as she swung without force. Accidental magic again, yet, he suspected she had learnt to control it. She was going to be a powerful witch. The thought made him hungry with- for- her- power. Only ten years of age these impulses lay dormant and for now, the thought just made him proud of his friend.

"Crabbe!"

Severus and Lily turned to see a tall boy with white blonde hair walking after a younger boy. Following him were two dark haired children. One boy and one girl. They looked almost identical. The girl was smoking on a cigerette. The tall boy turned and snatched it out of her mouth.

"Muggle filth!" Then the boy slapped her. "Wait till your mother hears about this."

The girl spat by his feet, brought another cigarette and lit it in front of his face. The boy's face turned red and he stormed off.

"Do you have to aggravate him like that?" Her brother sighed before taking the cigarette she offered him as she lighted it for her.

Severus and Lily stared at eachother. They were children! They looked their age and they were smoking on the stuff Snape's father was dying of.

"He's a poncy twat that's why." The girl blew the smoke in accomplished hoops.

The boy snorted in agreement.

The girl looked around and saw Lily gawping at her. Lily blushed as their eyes met but she couldn't look away. The girl couldn't be older than ten yet there she was, carrying herself like a young adult. Smoking with such an art she wondered when she started.

Lily then smiled at her and gave her a little wave. Snape cringed.

"Lily" he hissed, but it was too late, they had caught the girls attention. She was walking over to them with her brother following after her, surveying them with interest.

"Hello" Lily hopped off the swing and offered the girl her hand. "I'm Lily, this is Severus, what's your name?"

"Aw isn't she darling?" The girl took her hand and shook it firmly. "Aquarius. This is my brother Sirius."

"You're not from around here." Severus blurted out. Lily blushed a little at his lack of decorum.

Sirius snorted.

"I take it you are."

"We live just round the corner." Lily offered, not wanting to make things awkward. "What brings you to Spinner's End?"

"A family gathering" said Aquarius with distaste. "Lucius has to keep an eye on us but thank god we lost him. Crabbe ran off so he's gone looking for him."

"Aren't your family very nice?" Lily enquired. "Sev's father isn't nice either."

Severus glowered at her. Lily was so nice and open she expected others to be just the same.

"Our family are… " Sirius hesitated.

"Evil." Aquarius said quite seriously, inhaling her cigarette. "They're prejudiced against…your kind."

"Aqua." Sirius said warningly.

"Poor people." Aquarius corrected herself.

"Excuse me?"

Then Severus looked at the two siblings closely and realized they wore cloaks, not coats over their clothes. They were dressed formally. The girl wore a black dress and the boy a shirt and undone bow tie.

"You don't mean muggles?" said Severus.

"Ah!" Aquarius looked at her brother, poking a tongue out. "You see, they're wizards."

"But I'm muggleborn"

"How fascinating." Aquarius looked at her hungrily. "Our parents never let us talk to your kind. Where do you get your magic from if it's not hereditary? Mother says you steal it but I can't see little children capable of stealing magic."

"I didn't steal my magic!" Lily said with outrage.

"Didn't hear me say I didn't believe it." Aquarius gave her a hard look before going on "So how do you do it?"

"I didn't do anything" Lily folded her arm defensively. "I started doing accidental magic. I didn't know what it was but then I met Sev, he's a half-blood. He told me I was a witch."

"Hmm." Aquarius sat down on the grass and lay back. "I wonder how that works."

"You've got your Hogwarts letters then?" Sirius asked. "We're twins, we received ours a few weeks ago. Can't wait to get out of this hell hole."

"You don't act eleven" Lily said suspiciously.

"That's the Black charm" sniggered Sirius. "Treated like little adults as soon as we can walk. Pure-blood lords and ladies."

"You're from the Noble House of Black?" Severus said with awe.

"The heir" said Black with a hint of disgust.

"Keep acting that way and Regulus will take your throne dear brother" said Aquarius proudly. "Lets just say we are the black sheep of the family."

"When did you start smoking?"

"A year ago. Snuck them from my uncle's pocket." Aquarius shrugged. "I do it coz mother says it's a filthy muggle habit of Uncle's. Everything she despises I seek to perfect."

Lily went to sit near the girl who looked years beyond her age and gave her a hug. Sirius and Severus looked at eachother. Aquarius relaxed and hugged her back a little with a small chuckle.

"You are a fascinating creature." Aquarius took a strand of her hair and played with it. "Are all muggles like you?"

Lily laughed.

"You really have no idea do you?"

"Not a clue."

Lily looked at her watch and jumped seeing the time.

"Sev I've got to go!" Lily looked back at them and said "I guess I'll be seeing you at Hogwarts."

"Bye Lily" Aquarius waved.

There was a silence as Severus scuffled his shoes and looked anywhere but at the two new acquaintances.

"Aren't you going to go home?" Aquarius asked, looking at the boy properly for the first time.

"I don't like going home." Snape said honestly.

"Hmph." Aquarius laughed bitterly. "I should introduce you to my mother."

"But-" Severus stopped himself.

Aquarius looked back at him, her silver eyes like pools of mercury.

"You're a Black, you're nobility."

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." Her voice sounded so tragic. Severus felt his heart falter.

"And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you," he murmured.

Sirius was lying on the grass, his eyes closed as his sister sat beside him looking blankly at the creeping sunset. Being with her made her crave Lily. Her aura was full of grief and despair. They were two hearts beating to the same slow death march.


	2. The Noble & Most Ancient House of Black

Chapter Two: **The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black**

"What do you want?" Aquarius said boredly not tearing her eye away from the book in hand.

"Nothing." Came the voice of her younger brother as he gave up peeking through the door left ajar.

"Well?" Aquarius snapped. "Coming or going?"

"When did you turn so mean?" Regulus sighed.

Sirius chuckled. He was mirroring Aquarius on his own bed. They still shared rooms though their mother had tried time and time again to place them in separate chambers. Neither could explain their need for one another. When Sirius was absent Aquarius felt she was in deep water, being dragged under. It terrified her how much she depended on him. Sirius too felt incomplete, a little lost.

"When did Aquarius become so mean?" Sirius almost sang and he raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and rested his book on his chest.

"Don't you start." Aquarius wandlessly threw a cushion his way.

"You're leaving tomorrow." Regulus came and sat on the edge of her bed looking glumly at the floor.

Sirius and Aquarius looked at eachother for a moment. Aquarius sighed and put her arms around her little brother.

"Three years." Aquarius said quietly. "Three years and you'll escape too."

Sirius came to them silently and put his arms around his two siblings, feeling his heart swell with love and protection.

Regulus looked at them and nodded, smiling sadly but kept his head held high.

"Attaboy" Sirius ruffled his brothers dark mein. Regulus looked like a smaller version of Sirius but he had inherited his father's bone structure. While the twins had heavy set eyes, distinguished cheekbones and a strong jawline Regulus had a pointed chin resembling a pixie and sloping cheekbones that gave him a sculpted appearance.

"What are you reading?" Regulus rest his head in his hands and looked at Aquarius eagerly.

Aquarius lifted the book so he could see the gold embossing ' _Magical Theory by A. Waffling'_.

"Is it interesting?" Looking highly doubtful.

"Dad covered most of it with us already but it's good to have as a review of our lessons." Aquarius replied thoughtfully.

"Can we go somewhere later?" Regulus asked.

"Where do you want to go?" Aquarius said still reading.

"Anywhere." Regulus shrugged.

"We could go to Primrose Hill", Sirius suggested.

"Yes!" Regulus looked hopefully at his sister who smiled for the first time during their exchange. amused by his excitement.

"Go and ask father's permission and we'll leave after lunch" Aquarius promised him.

Lunch was the usual affair. Father was at home which was rare. He was often travelling discovering rare plants and minerals. Though they loved their father very much they could not help feel detached from the man who raised a family out of duty rather than love. Her mother and father were arranged to marry from birth. Aquarius believed Walburga Black to be unloveable. The woman was cold and sneered at everything she considered below her. Most days she would rant and rave how she had been cursed with despicable children and an unloving husband, but of course Orion never heard any of this, playing the doting pure blooded wife in his presence. Society was everything to her. From birth Aquarius and Sirius had taken lessons in etiquette,music, dance and duelling. Aquarius wasn't sure when she began to rebel. Her father would owl letters to them using exotic birds and come home with gifts from all around the world. All the while she was dressed up like a doll, taught to speak only when spoken to and accompanied her mother to her tea parties and art fairs where conversations sounded rehearsed and the company the same with the same bored expression. Sirius had even more pressure seeing he was the heir. Walburga drilled into him that he was a lord. Superior to all others and expected to act with dignity. Aquarius was unsure why Sirius had never succumbed to her efforts. The leash Walburga had tightened round their necks were so tight she suffocated her children.

"I have leaving gifts for you Sirius, Aquarius." Orion announced as they finished their lunch. They followed their father to the garden where there were two sheets covering their large gifts. Pulling back the white sheets he revealed a cage where a beautiful owl slept, her head resting in her wing. Black and gold the bird was huge. Turning she saw Sirius had a cat that looked like a baby lioness. WIth golden fur, her eyes were a brilliant green.

"You may name them as you please." Orion said formally, his hands clasped behind his back. Orion Black was a handsome man with an untamed mane of dark hair and dark rich eyes. His face was scarred, he never told them how. He wore clothes fitting for the Victorian period. Ruffled shirt, a necktie with a velvet waistcoat. He always wore hunting boots made from dragon hide. He rarely smiled but looking at his children he knew he loved them very much and hoped they saw his token as such. These animals were rare and highly magical creatures. Aquarius with her longing to be free, was suited to a vicious bird that was the height of majesty, while his eldest son was fierce and loyal.

Aquarius forgot herself for a moment and hugged her father round his waist. Orion stepped back with the force of her embrace before slowly, tentatively stroking her hair. Sirius approached him and rested his head against his side, holding both him and his sister.

"You must write me children." Orion's voice was a little broken with emotion. "I - I love you very much."

Walburga and Regulus remained behind and watched the embrace and somewhere in her heart of stone she felt at peace with her children and a strange likeness for her husband. Regulus was on his knees eyeing the young lioness which opened one eye and watched him warily.

That evening they walked to Primrose Hill, climbed to the very top and watched the beating sun above them with Regulus chattering away.

"Remember when Kreacher found out we swapped the salt with sugar? And when mother grounded the three of us and we escaped through the window on a broomstick and when-"

"Reg" Sirius growled. "Peace, please."

Sirius was stroking his lioness who purred as he scratched a sensitive area behind his ear. Aquarius was chain smoking as usual, lighting her cigarettes with a click of her fingers.

"Don't you want to remember the good times?" Regulus pouted.

"I don't recall those." Aquarius said, holding her knees to her chest. "I remember mother locking me in the basement in the dark for three days. I remember her beating me every time Sirius misbehaved. I remember her forcing me to stand on a stool the whole day for stealing cookies from the kitchen when I was five years old."

"I should have been there." Sirius grimaced.

"Me too." Regulus said forcefully, his face riled up with emotion. The serious expression did not suit their gentle brother and the twins laughed.

"Enough of the self-pity sister" Sirius said after a moment of silence. "From tomorrow we lead our own lives."

"Let's play a game." Regulus's eyes glinted with mischief. "Hide and seek?"

The day passed with ease. They were late for dinner but Orion made no word of complaint, instead calling them to him and allowing Kreacher to bring their meals to them warmed up in the garden as Orion regaled his stories about the creatures that were now in their possession. Regulus sat on his lap listening with awe. Regulus loved his father the most. He was convinced he was an adventurer that roamed forests and deserts armed with nothing but his wand. Regulus idolized him and Aquarius remembered she did too, a long time ago, before her mother had failed her and her father took little notice. She wondered if he knew when she saw the marks around her neck or the cut lip. Walburga had once slapped her in front of Orion and he had been furious. But that was when she was very young. As the years passed he spent more and more time abroad and Walburga ran the house. Kreacher was her saviour most days. Bringing her dinner when she was sent to bed early. Healing her wounds when her mother had gotten carried away. Sometimes Aquarius felt ashamed and didn't tell Sirius half of her crimes feeling she deserved them. She ran away from home once. For two days. She slept in the underground in the night, befriending homeless muggles before her father had found her. Sirius was seething, confessed that mother had been relieved if anything. Taunted him how she would announce her dead and good riddance. Sirius wrote to her father the next day and he'd returned home at once.

At bedtime Orion came into their bedroom like he used to years ago and read them a story. They rolled their eyes but really missed their time together without Walburga looking over them. Regulus came and snuggled by Aquarius listening to his tale about the dragon and the princess. Like old times he created talking shadow puppets on their wall as he told them the story and ended with the message that love conquered all.

The next morning the sky was overcast with grey clouds. Sirius and Aquarius had their trunks ready for them in the hall. Orion decided they'd walk to Kings Cross. Regulus joined them, kicking up a fuss when Walburga demand he stay. They had strange looks cast in their direction. Sirius and Regulus also wore shirts with waistcoats and their shoes were made of leather. Aquarius wore a deep green velvet dress, with white tights and all four wore long robes that made them look a little regal. Used to this reaction the four paid no attention to the staring muggles.

"Aquarius." Orion called her back. Sirius had boarded the train and Regulus watched him longingly as Orion spoke to her daughter aside. "I know you've started smoking Aquarius and I must tell you to stop."

"Father you realize how much of a hypocrite that makes you." Aquarius snorted.

"I am a grown man young lady." Orion now rose up to his full height and said "At the very least don't get caught."

Aquarius kissed her father and ruffled her brothers hair before running out onto the train to look for Sirius. Eventually she found him in a carriage with two other boys.

"Hello," Aquarius looked at the two boys closely.

"This is my twin sister Aquarius." Sirius said proudly.

"James Potter" the dark haired boy stood and took her hand and pressed it to his mouth.

"I know you" Aquarius saw those brilliant green eyes and recalled her first dance many years ago at the Potter Manor. "Mother _hates_ your mother!"

"The feeling is mutual, I assure you." Potter chuckled.

The sandy haired boy stood shyly by Potter as she looked into his amber eyes.

"Remus" He said softly.

"Pleasure." She took his hand and brushed her lips against his knuckles. Remus widened his eyes at the gesture.

"How come I didn't get a kiss?" Potter pouted.

"Mother wouldn't approve" She sniffed.

Sirius roared out laughing. The two of them got along like a forest on fiendfyre. Aquarius felt a little mournful and wondered if she'd find such a good friend to replace her twin. She knew he would never abandon her, of course, but if he had James she did not wish to linger, an unwelcome third person. Besides, they'd be sleeping in different dormitories. The thought made her feel terribly lonely.

Aquarius wiped away a traitorous tear quickly but Remus was sitting opposite her and he caught the vulnerable display. It was a sign, Aquarius believed years from then, that he did not draw her brothers attention nor attempt to seek why she cried. He gave his comfort unconditionally. Remus rummaged in his pockets and withdrew a slightly melted chocolate frog and offered it to her. She gave him a small smile, took the chocolate and snapped it in two and gave him the other half.

Remus nodded off to sleep halfway through the journey and the two boys had finally exhausted their sugar rush and they sat quietly on either side of the compartment. Aquarius stood up stiffly and went for a cigarette. She walked to the very back of the train, opened a window and shivered slightly as she leaned her outer body out of the window. The roar of the engine matched the sound of the train on the tracks and the sudden downpour of rain. Looking around to see if she was being watched she jumped to reach for the latch above the window. Grabbing a firm hold she managed to jump onto the window. It was exhilarating. Her hair whipped behind her in the biting wind. She looked up and saw a grooved ledge on the outside and without a second thought she grabbed hold of it and swung dangerously on the edge of the train. Blindly feeling for a second handle of some sort she held onto the ledge as if her life depended on it and with a grim realization she realized it probably did. Aquarius was freezing. She was drenched in rain and the wind caused by the speeding train was biting at her exposed skin. She could hear nothing but the sound of the tracks and the beating rain against the train. She knew she'd fall anytime now. She looked down and gulped as she saw the rocky ground looking not quite so welcome as the rolling landscape. Aquarius closed her eyes and prayed. She didn't know who she prayed to but it must have been answered because she felt someone bring her flailing legs back onto the window edge. Aquarius sighed a breath of relief and allowed her body to relax, bringing her body down as someone grabbed hold of her legs and then her waist.

"Severus" Aquarius stuttered, shaking from the cold.

His eyes were the black of a beetle shell, presently glinting like onyx and lacking the warmth she'd seen them in the park those many months ago. He had slammed the window shut, drawn his wand and kneeled by her shivering body waving his wand deliberately and with the skill of a healer. She felt a wonderful warmth from the marrow of her bones. He had taken off his cloak and wrapped her in it before he allowed himself to sit still, leaning against the train exterior and looking at her warily.

"Were you trying to kill yourself?" He finally said, in his strange voice. It was a voice to entice. The voice of the devil if such a creature existed. He didn't speak like a child, though he looked it and a rather miserable child at that.

"No!" Aquarius cried. "I wouldn't do my mother the satisfaction."

Severus released a snort of laughter, so silent she'd have missed it for a sniff if she hadn't been looking at him defiantly.

"Are you laughing at me?" Aquarius demanded.

"No" Severus said, all traces of laughter gone from his face though there was a kindness in his eyes now that hadn't been there before. "A strange way of refusing suicide. You would remain alive to spite your mother?"

"I thought you had the measure of me, Severus Snape" Aquarius said, as she lit a cigarette.

Severus looked around warily. Aquarius closed her eyes as she experienced the light hazy feeling wash over her. She passed the cigarette to Severus, who stared at her for a moment before taking the stick in his hands and breathing it in. He coughed a little but continued in his stride. He looked down at the long thin cigarette embossed with a golden _g_. Aquarius didn't ask for it back and lit another instead, closing her eyes every now and then.

"Where is the muggleborn?" Aquarius asked a minute later.

"I left her in the compartment." Severus said. "She was reading. I should get back before she worries."

"How.. nice" Aquarius said, remaining crosslegged on the floor.

"You are welcome to join us for lunch." Severus said, bowing his head a little.

"I accept your kind invitation" Aquarius took his hand and curtsied.

Severus felt his heart flutter.

Lily ran and hugged her when Severus coughed and announced they had a guest. A small blonde girl looked on with mild curiosity.

"Lily" Aquarius gasped.

"You look very pretty Aquarius." Lily gushed, holding her hands and looking down at her green frock. "Like a lady. This is Lyra. Lyra, meet Aquarius. She has a twin brother and they're nobility. They are both really rather friendly."

"Lady Black" Lyra bowed her head and held out her hand.

Aquarius kissed her hand.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance" Aquarius said boredly. "Though may we drop the antiquities?"

Lyra smiled.

"If it pleases her ladyship."

Aquarius chuckled.

"You're Ollivanders daughter." Aquarius said, taking a seat. "I've met your father."

"I must then apologize on behalf of my father." Lyra laughed.

"You mustn't" Aquarius reassured her. "I never apologize on behalf of my mother. Though to be sure if I had done so I could never really stop."

Lyra laughed. She had a pleasant life as though she'd perfected the sound. It was a tinkling sound like a bell. It complimented her delicate features, her blond straight hair which flicked near the ends and her light blue eyes the colour of clear skies.

"How do you know Severus and Lily?" Aquarius asked.

"I came early and was in this compartment alone and they asked if they could accompany me." Lyra smiled at Lily. "I was most pleased for such pleasant company."

"Do you not know others attending school?" Aquarius asked.

"My cousins are much older than me and I have not had the opportunity to make friends in other circles except a friendship that is.. fleeting." Lyra said sadly. "But now we have seven long years before us!"

"Of course, your father travels." Aquarius recalled. "I wish my father would have taken us with him. He is a magizoologist."

Lily gasped.

"Oh your fathers have such exciting professions" Lily said enviously. "My father's a teacher."

"My fathers a full time drunk." Severus sneered.

"I wouldn't say that wasn't an exciting profession." Aquarius's eyes twinkled. "My mothers a full time bitch."

"Aquarius!" Lily gasped.

"Lily" Aquarius said boredly. "One mustn't embellish the truth."

The trolley came round and Aquarius brought pumpkin pastries bit noticed Lily and Severus had brought a picnic basket.

"Homemade pumpkin pastries?" Lily offered.

Aquarius tried one and felt the pastry melt in her mouth and her nose fill with the aromatic waft of cinnamon.

Lily chuckled.

"Mrs. Snape is a wonderful chef." Lily boasted proudly.

After their late lunch Aquarius began to doze off, the smell of spiced pumpkin reminded her of Halloween and butterbeers and fanfares.

"There she is!"

Aquarius jolted from her pleasant daydream and looked blearily at the compartment door. Two girls were stood looking at her. One was chewing gum and leaned against the door folding her arms. The other had her two hands clasped at the front and smiled. They were the sun and the moon. That was how different they were. Bellatrix and Narcissa Black.

"Aqua" Bellatrix smirked. "Do introduce us to your friends."

"Bella" Aquarius smoothly responded though the effect was somewhat diminished by her tousled state. She had been sleeping against Lily's shoulder.

"Lily Evans, Severus Snape and Lyra Ollivander" Aquarius said, stifling a yawn. "Meet my cousins Bellatrix Black and Narcissus Black."

"Pleasure." Narcissa said bowing her head. "We thought you'd be joining us but I can see you've made some friends."

"Isn't it sweet" Bellatrix leered at them. "Ickle firsties."

"Come Bella!" Narcissus said.

"Yes mother" Bella whined and winked at Aquarius. "See you in the feast."

"Bye!" Aquarius waved a false smile plastered to her face. "You crazy nutcase."

She muttered the last words under her breath.

"Oh dear cousin Bella" Aquarius sighed. "When we were little she used to pull off the legs of spiders for fun."

Lily, Lyra and Severus shuddered.

"What house you reckon you'll get into?" Aquarius asked no one in particular.

"Slytherin." Severus said immediately.

"I want to be with Sev." Lily said with a sickening expression on her face Aquarius hoped would never past hers.

"I don't mind." Lyra said. "Probably Ravenclaw or Slytherin".

"My whole family's been in Slytherin." Aquarius sighed. "Maybe I'll be in Ravenclaw.."

Severus snorted.

"Have something to say?" Aquarius said haughtily.

"Only that I've never seen a girl more Slytherin than yourself, my lady" Severus said in a light teasing voice.

"I really don't mind - so long I don't get in Hufflepuff." Aquarius said. "But it'd be nice to infuriate mother. My brother is a Gryffindor if I've ever seen one so I suppose I'd like to be with him."

"I suppose... if you'd rather brawn than brains" Severus sneered.

Aquarius raised her eyebrow.

"I'm with you on that one." Aquarius chuckled. "Though don't let Sirius hear you say that."

The hours seemed to crawl in front of her. Aquarius was desperately looking forward to her new life. Leaving the darkness behind along with her mother. Aquarius longed to be happy. Perhaps Hogwarts would give to her what she felt a little girl was missing all these years. A childhood her and Sirius were deprived of. As Aquarius allowed her heart to hope her mind was elsewhere.

" _I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin."_


End file.
